Writer-director Henry Selick (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”) uses stop-motion animation to immerse viewers in this scary and dark fantasy based on the horror novella by Neil Gaiman.

The characters are stick figure puppets with big heads and thin torsos. Their oversized eyes, mouths and eyebrows allow expressions to run a gamut of emotions.

Blue-haired 11-year-old Coraline Jones (the voice of Dakota Fanning) has just moved with her parents from Michigan to rural Oregon. Their new home is the middle apartment of a spooky 150-year-old structure named the Pink Palace. The strange and eccentric neighbors are Mr. Bobinski (Ian McShane from “Deadwood”), a Russian circus performer whose act includes a mouse marching band, in the upstairs attic flat and Miss Forcible and Miss Spink, a pair of retired British actresses who are surrounded by the stuffed remains of faithful pet Scottish terriers, in the downstairs basement dwelling.

A bored Coraline misses the friends she left behind. She is ignored by her busy, self-absorbed parents (voiced by Teri Hatcher from “Desperate Housewives” and John Hodgman from “The Daily Show”) and finds a blue and purplish lit tunnel that resembles a birth canal. On the other side, she meets her “other mother and father.”

She becomes the center of attention and everything in this warm and inviting alternative otherworld has been created to impress her. These imposters attempt to lure her away from the real world with treasures, treats and games. They want to break her spirit and trap her forever in this eerie existence.

The movie is a visual treat with every color in the crayon box on display. The richly textured musical score from composer Bruno Coulais (“The Chorus”) and performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra imitates “Peter and the Wolf.”

Those unfamiliar with the story will get restless and lose interest at the one-hour mark (of the 100-minute running time) as the novelty of the animation style wears out its welcome. Kids in the audience will start fidgeting from the lack of any humorous moments as things turn frightening. They will want to exit the theater and go home because most of the confusing avant-garde material will be over their heads.

This movie falls short of the joys of “Monster House” and “Beetle Juice.” The story pales in comparison to “The Wizard of Oz” or “Alice in Wonderland.” This high brow, art house-oriented fable elicits very little sympathy for the title character and brings to mind the far superior French film “The Triplets of Belleville.”

The stereoscopic digital 3D version is available in Johnson County exclusively at AMC Town Center 20.

Review By:
Keith Cohen, "The Movie Guy"